CHRISTIAN, WIFE, MAMA,
PHOTOGRAPHER, & PHOTOGRAPHY COACH
Learn How To Grow Your Photography Business to Full Time Income This Year!
Do you question God’s calling on your life? In this episode of the Five Star Business Podcast, I want to uncover the number one question the enemy has been taunting you with and why you’re feeling confused about your calling.
The enemy has been lying to you in order to keep you stuck and feeling confused about your calling. I want to uncover the number one question the enemy has been taunting you with and why it’s keeping you from moving forward in your life and business. I’ve been walking through this personally and wrestling with this question myself. So, I know what God revealed to me in order to overcome the enemy will encourage you to feel confident in your calling.
The enemy is whispering lies in your ear. He’s asking you to question God’s calling for you. He’s whispering, “Did God really say. . .? Did God actually say that? Are you really good enough for that?”
How many times have you felt like you heard from the Lord or had a gut feeling? You made a decision, or moved in the direction you were being called in. Then, all of a sudden, you went from having clarity to being in a state of confusion. I just walked out of this.
Whenever God gave me the idea for the Five Star Business Podcast, I received this divine download in the shower, which is where all the best ideas happen. The name of the podcast came to me, I knew the mission, and who I was meant to serve. I already had some episode ideas for the launch. It was amazing. I felt so much clarity and excitement.
I remember hopping out of the shower, writing it all down, and then messaging my best friend, who is also my online business manager, to tell her what God was calling me to. It made so much sense. The first six months of the year, I was really just distraught with where I was headed. I felt so confused.
God has been stripping away everything that I found my identity in. He stripped people, my photography career, all of these things, and I am so grateful for it. But in the moment, I felt like this was the worst year ever. I kept wondering, “What am I going to do?”
I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. I was very confused. It felt like something was missing, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. Six months later, God finally showed me the missing piece. He revealed why certain things were removed and why things were changing. After I recieved the clarity, I was excited, and riding the adrenaline rush for about two weeks.
Once the two weeks passed by, all of a sudden, I was questioning everything because all I could hear in my head, was the enemy whispering, “Did God really say. . .? Are you really going to say goodbye to a podcast that has been successful? Even if it’s the number one lead generator for your clients? How are you going to make money? Will you really close that business? Are you sure God actually said these things? Do you know if the idea wasn’t just something that you made up in your head?”
If you’ve ever had these thoughts, they come from a place of doubt. The enemy is trying to distract you to get you off course, because that’s what he does. This goes all the way back to Genesis; it’s the enemy’s famous question in the Bible. You’re not making this up in your head. It’s biblical.
Genesis 3 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, You shall not eat any tree in the garden?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate, then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
This is the same question that he is taunting you and me with. When people think of the devil in a cartoon, they think of him as an ugly creature with horns on his head. They paint the enemy as someone who immediately makes you afraid. That is not even close to what he looks like or how he works, especially in today’s society. The enemy comes dressed to the nine and he blends in. He looks good and looks like someone you can trust. The enemy disguises himself with all things good.
In the garden, the woman looked at the tree and said that looked good and desirable. She thought it was going to do all of these good things for her. But the truth is, God already called her not to eat of it, because He knew that it was not good for them.
Not all good things are good things from God. Yes, God is the giver of all good things, but not all of the good things. Whether it’s a sport, a group, an activity, an opportunity, course or business coach you have to consider if it’s from God or the enemy. It really depends on the perspective of the person. If you don’t have your biblical lenses on, you might miss it. You might be persuaded to go down a route you did not want to go. This is the enemy’s doing.
When you have to make a choice between two or more options, maybe they’re both good. But one of them is usually from God and the other one is usually a distraction. It’s something not meant for you to do.
When God gave me this new business idea, it was a good idea. God ordained this for me. This new podcast was the next chapter that He had for me. On the other hand, I could have just stayed on the same path. I could have said, “You know what? Maybe it was just my idea and God didn’t really say that. Maybe I’m going lean into my doubt. I’m actually going to choose to do both, or just ignore what God’s called me to do and stay on the path I’m on.” I could have done that. But that was a distraction from the enemy.
The enemy was trying to get me to think, “If you do this new thing, you’re not going to make any money. People will hate you, because you’re talking about faith. No one will want to listen to this podcast.” It goes on and on and on. I’m sure the enemy has been saying some very similar things to you at some point in your life. He whispered, “Did God really say to do that?”
That’s when you have to discern between God’s voice and the enemy’s. Where does that voice come from? 9/10 times, you will know. You’ll have a feeling and you’ll know. But when you don’t, pray about it. “
This is a prayer I say all the time: “God open the doors that you have for me that you want me to walk through, so that I can help and be a vessel for you. Close any doors, any people, any opportunities, anything at all, that is not for me.” That’s almost a daily prayer. I invite you to pray that over your circumstances as well.
I was reading a devotional that touched on the subject of identity, because 2022 has been a year of really figuring out who am I as a daughter. Not a wife, not a mom, not a business owner, not a photographer, not any other title, but who I am at the core. I invite you, if you’ve never gone down this journey, to ask God to reveal who you are at your core and who He created you to be.
As I was reading in one of my devotionals, it was titled You Are Capable and shared this verse, “I can do all this through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13. I highlighted a couple of sentences that I want to share to give you encouragement where there is doubt. “We cannot fulfill our destiny merely with one or the other. We need both; we need self-belief and we need divine trust; we need a healthy and hearty self-image to even have the audacity to pursue all God has in store for us.”
If we aren’t already building ourselves up with the biblical truth, surrounding ourselves with people who believe in us, hiring a coach that is going to help you get closer to where you want to be, or surrounding yourself with any community that’s going to help do that for you then when the doubt comes, when the enemy comes to kill, steal, destroy, distract, to place doubt on you, you’re not going to be equipped or able to recognize the voice of God versus the voice of the enemy. That is why it’s so important to get in your Bible and get in your word.
I totally get it, sometimes, we fall off the bandwagon. There are seasons that I am awesome. I follow my morning routine. I’m in my Bible every day. I’m praying and blasting worship music. There are seasons, when it gets a little busy, like the summer, and you fall off the routine. It’s really important not to carry that shame.
Shame is the other thing that I wanted to go back to Genesis 3. God never wanted shame to be a part of our story. After the enemy tricked Adam and Eve into eating the fruit, immediately their eyes were opened and shame came into the picture. But shame is not from God. If you were deceived, or if you made the wrong choice, don’t feel ashamed.
What should you do you do when you are faced with doubt? When you feel that the enemy is taunting you? First of all, when God calls you to do something, it’s not always going to be sunshine, butterflies and rainbows. It won’t always be an easy yes.
Most of the time when God is calling us to do something, He will take us out of our comfort zone. We are not prepared. We feel very underqualified, and we’ll ask, “Why me? I don’t understand. There’s no way I’m cut out for this.”
A lot of times it’s a hard yes when God calls you to do something. You may be afraid or face a little bit of doubt. You will have this wrestling feeling. But you’re also going to have a sense of peace. God will always give you peace when it is His voice.
God is calling a lot of us in this season. Right now, He may be calling you to get out of the boat. The boat is your current beliefs. It’s the glass ceiling of where you’ve made it to so far. The boat is where you feel comfortable. Maybe you’re not ready to step out of it or you’re not sure. You can hear the wind and the waves that sound scary out there. Maybe you don’t feel qualified for what God is calling you to do. You don’t believe you should have been chosen.
But He is so sweet. In Matthew 8:26, Jesus says to his disciples, “Why are you afraid, you have little faith. Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm.”
I truly believe that you are sitting in your boat of comfort. God is calling you to the next phase, to the next stage and to the next thing that He has for you. He is waiting on you to rise up and say, “Yes, Lord, send me! Yes, I’m ready.”
He’s waiting on you to take that first step out of the boat, trusting that sense of calm, that sense of peace, and that His strength is going to wash over you as you step out. For me, that was saying, “Yes, God. I’m going to do this. Starting over is scary. I am afraid that people are not going to resonate with this. I don’t want to put my family in a financial situation that will make them hate me for making a decision. But I’m going to put all of that aside, I know that You’ve called me. I know it’s You. I am going to step out of this boat and do this in faith.”
I began to take action on building my podcast, trusting that He had a plan for me. I trusted that I could put all of my faith in Him. He would carry me and strengthen me. God would lead me to do this. I will eventually get to see the fruits of that.
Is God calling you out of your boat? If He is, you might also hear another voice, “Did God really say. . .?” Yes, God really did say that! Especially if you’re experiencing an internal wrestle. I pray that God will open your eyes, that you will walk out of a state of confusion and instead you will have God-ordained clarity. I pray that you know in your heart, in your mind, your soul and in your spirit that this is something that God is calling you to do right now.
Set the fear aside, stand up and put one foot in front of the other in space, in this next chapter, in this next calling that God is calling you to. Get out of that boat and I’ll meet you walking on the waves. I’m praying blessings on your business!
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